Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, April 21

Working on various permutations and combinations, the Congress is learnt to have shortlisted its candidates for the Faridkot and Hoshiarpur parliamentary segments at its central election committee meeting held on Sunday.

Who’ll make the cut?

• For Faridkot, names of former Moga Zila Parishad chief Rajinder Kaur Sahoke amp; ex-MLA Sukhwinder Singh Danny “shortlisted”
• In Hoshiarpur, Yamini Gomar reportedly frontrunner, followed by ex-MLA Pawan Adia

Sources privy to the development said the party was likely to field women candidates on the reserved seats. A senior leader termed it “effort to address women quota and bring in new local faces”.

The parliamentary seats for which the candidates are yet to be announced are Faridkot, Ferozepur, Khadoor Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Gurdaspur.

In the first list, the names of six candidates — Charanjit Channi from Jalandhar (SC), Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala, Gurjit Aujla from Amritsar, Amar Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib, Sukhpal Khaira from Sangrur and Jeet Mohinder Sidhu from Bathinda — were announced.

The sources said for the mazhabi Sikh-dominated Faridkot constituency, the names of former Moga Zila Parishad chairman Rajinder Kaur Sahoke and ex-MLA Sukhwinder Danny had been shortlisted. Sahoke’s husband Bhupinder Sahoke had unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Assembly poll from the Nihal Singh Wala seat.

In Hoshiarpur, Yamini Gomar was the frontrunner, followed by ex-MLA Pawan Adia. Gomar had left AAP in 2016 to join the Congress. In 2014, she unsuccessfully contested the LS poll. In Anandpur Sahib, the party in all probability is going to give the ticket to a Hindu leader. Hindu leaders have been demanding the ticket for at least three from the community.